Thursday, May 31, 2012

Radicals Damage Synagogue Mosaic in Tiberias

Picture of damaged mosaic

There are radicals in every religion. The are radicals outside of religion too. And sometimes they do things that really annoy the rest of us. A case in point is the damage done to a 1,600 year old synagogue mosaic in Tiberias, Israel. The mosaic is among the most beautiful from the time period. Here is some of the report.

Vandals badly damaged a rare 1,600-year-old mosaic in the
northern Israeli city of Tiberias that formed the floor of an ancient
synagogue, smashing parts to rubble and scrawling graffiti, antiquity officials
said Tuesday.

Experts suspect extremist Jews who object, sometimes
violently, to excavations they claim involve ancient grave sites. There was no
claim of responsibility. Police are investigating.

Guards found the damage on Tuesday morning, said
archeologists involved in the site.The mosaic, dating 400 years after the birth of Jesus, was
one of the best preserved and beautiful of its period, according to
archaeologists.

It featured illustrated zodiac signs and the traditional
symbolism of a fourth-century synagogue: ritual candelabras and palm fronds.
The synagogue's ruins, including its ancient mosaic floor, were in a fenced-off
area of a national park in Tiberias, next to the Sea of Galilee.It listed the names of the synagogue's chief patrons in
ancient Hebrew, Latin and Greek.